


All is Lost

by Leafling



Category: Terminator Genisys (2015)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Bad Ending, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, End of the World, Father/Son Incest, Implied/Referenced Incest, Implied/Referenced Sex, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Incest, John is Evil, M/M, Not Beta Read, Parent/Child Incest, Partner Betrayal, Pretty bleak if you ask me, Skynet Wins, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-06 23:53:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5435498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leafling/pseuds/Leafling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skynet wins and John claims the spoils of war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All is Lost

_The machines won._  
  
“I don't want to be his pet,” Sarah says resolutely. There’s this heat in her eyes as she clenches her firearm in her grasp. She’s almost unrecognizable this way. _Defeated._  
  
Kyle’s a soldier, he understands the concept of prisoners of war—Skynet didn’t usually take prisoners, but there were the few horror stories that floated around camp about what the machines did to their captives.

That alone should prepare him for what Sarah does next. Or, at the very least, he should  _expect_ it.

Kyle should expect her to press the muzzle of her gun to her temple, to squeeze the trigger.

For some reason, though, _he doesn’t_. 

All Kyle knows is war and loss and bloodshed and yet, he is shaken to his core as Sarah’s body collapses into his arms. Her blood is gushing from the two holes in her head, flowing onto his clothes and coating his hands in thick red gore as he tries in vain to make it **stop**.   
  
She’s dead. She’s so obviously and completely dead, but Kyle is in complete shock. He can’t process how one minute, they were running around the facility trying to shut Genisys down, and the next Sarah’s _gone_.

It’s over.  
  
John’s heavy footfalls bring him back to the present. Kyle looks up and finds that robot son of a bitch _smiling_ , his expression triumphant and barely cracks at all when he sees Sarah's lifeless body. "That's too bad," John tsk’ed, "but... not  _unlike_  her."  
  
Kyle wipes his eyes with the back of his hand, "she was your  **mother**...!  _Jesus Christ!_ " he barks, voice little more than a croak.  
  
John shrugs his shoulders, “somethings can’t be helped.”  
  
_**You're a monster**_ , Kyle wants to scream at him, but it’s still so hard to look at John and see him as anything other than the man he grew up admiring. _This isn’t John, though. This thing just has his face._

The terminator appraises him for a second, trying for a contrite expression this time. "I gave her a chance—I gave  **both** of you a chance,” John crosses his arms.  

Kyle growled, "A chance... to be like you? A  _machine_?" 

“I never wanted either one of you to die," John says with a deep frown, "why can’t you see? What’s so hard to understand? This— ** _me_** … its humanity's next step. We'll never get old, this way. We’ll never die."  
  
Kyle grinds his teeth, willing his eyes to stop overflowing, “there’s no fucking point of living forever when all my friends are dead!” He sounds so hoarse, voice reminiscent of a radio being tuned. Scratchy and uneven, cutting in and out.

John looks… genuinely _hurt_ somehow. “Not all of them. Most haven’t even been born yet. And _I’m_ still here, Kyle.” 

“YOU? Like I give a shit about you, _John_!” Kyle spits back, “fuck, you aren’t even _really_ John—you’re just ... just a copycat. Another one of Skynet’s little projects.” 

John takes a step forward, watching as Kyle bristles before he speaks, “I’m still John—I’m still here, Kyle, I’m just better. I’ve evolved. All my memories are still intact…my feelings haven’t changed.” 

“ ** _Stop_** ,” Kyle hiccups. 

The machine advances still, slow and cautious to avoid Kyle making any snap decisions. “I still love you, Kyle,” John says, unwavering. His words cut deeper than the sharpest knife. 

Kyle’s expression is so tortured. Staring up at John, he almost forgets that Sarah’s still lying lifeless in his lap. “Stop…you aren’t John— _stop it_ ,” he pleads. 

“What do I have to do to prove it to you?” John is close enough now that Kyle has to crane his head to look him in the eye. 

Kyle stands, “it’s too late— _look around us_ … John wouldn’t have wanted any of this to happen!” 

“There was no way to stop it—Skynet _always_ comes online, Kyle. You haven’t seen the things it’s showed me. You don’t understand,” John explains. 

“No, I don’t understand! How anyone would _want this_...” 

John looks weary, like someone trying to explain a concept that's far too grand. He shakes his head, “no matter how many times I try to tell you, you won’t listen.” He extends his hand and Kyle is deeply unnerved by the gesture, even though John’s hand still appears to be flesh and blood. “Let me show you,” John says so quietly that he’s basically whispering. 

Kyle feels a knot forming in his throat, palms suddenly itching to graze across the hand before him. This machine looks so much like John. And its voice, its words— _“let me show you,” whispered in the dead of night. Sometimes, it’s just the two of them, under the scratchy threadbare covers._ _Sometimes they’re in the field, with the rest of the resistance, tucked away behind an alcove, “let me show you.”—_ it elicits a kind of Pavlovian response from him. Kyle’s so torn between fighting this thing tooth and nail and just **_collapsing_**. Never does the thought of surrendering come to mind. Whatever his feelings for this _imposter_ are, Kyle can’t surrender himself to the machines.

John almost looks pleading, Kyle can almost feel himself reaching out for that hand. Then he remembers Sarah, what a future with this John would look like. _He wants to keep you,_ the thought echoes through his mind. It makes Kyle tear his gaze away, eyes instead drawn to Sarah’s discarded firearm. 

"You don't want to do that, Kyle,” John warns and all the warmth is gone from his voice.  
  
_The machines really have won._

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe when I find the drive, I'll explore this more, but it's officially just an one shot.


End file.
